Involving readers before publication

Thank you to all of our e-board members who responded quickly Saturday to our question about the latest images from Iraq.

Even though it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Weld County, more than two dozen readers offered opinions about the pictures. We took their views into consideration in deciding to publish one of the three images in Sunday’s edition.

The readers split on how to handle the disturbing photos. Thirteen did not want them printed. Eleven said print them. Two offered opinions about the war without taking a position on whether to publish the pictures.

Ultimately, we decided readers needed to see a picture to fully understand the story and the world reaction to it. The images had been shown around the world, and we didn’t feel right sheltering our readers from them.

To be sensitive to readers who would be bothered by publication, we decided to place the photo on an inside page with an advisory on the front page warning readers about the sensitive nature of the image inside. We also referred readers to my blog for further discussion of the photos.

Copy desk chief Donovan Henderson packaged the photo with three stories: A front-page story reported on new images ” which had not yet been verified ” showing British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. On the inside page, a second story reported on the investigation into the Army-run prison, and a third story told of the American soldiers’ hometown reaction.

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We chose to use only one of the three images ” the human pyramid ” because space was limited and because we thought it was the most powerful.

I’m posting the e-board members’ comments here so you can judge for yourself. I’ll make each one a separate post, so you can agree or disagree.